


It Takes Two

by NikaylaSarae



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Panicking, Peer Pressure, drowning concerns, dying concerns, impalement concerns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:15:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23333710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikaylaSarae/pseuds/NikaylaSarae
Summary: When Logan can’t convince Thomas to not give into peer pressure in a potentially dangerous situation, he turns to the Side he thought he’d never go to for help. Virgil.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 90





	It Takes Two

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted with minor edits from my Tumblr account @stillebesat

His chair crashed to the floor as Logan shot to his feet, his fingers flying over the console flicking switches and pressing buttons without looking as he studied the scene before him. 

“Come on, Thomas.” He said in an undertone, hitting the final sequence. “You know that’s not a good idea. Look!” He gestured at the screen as his points of error showed up there. “Can’t you see that they don’t mean it when these people say it’s safe?” 

It was all in the looks the group were sharing between each other. The knowing glances, the half smirks. 

“There!” Logan pointed to the man in front. “That smile isn’t right.” Could Thomas not see that it was a hair too wide, the eyes weren’t crinkling like they would with a genuine smile. Could he not see the girls giggling just behind the ringleader? “The tone is off, you kno--” He gritted his teeth as Thomas nodded. 

“Sure, yah, okay.” He said, taking a step forward, Logan’s points of error disappearing from the screen as Thomas dismissed them.

“THOMAS, NO.” Logan slammed his hand on the console. Why couldn’t Thomas see that this was not a good idea? He could get hurt! It was pure idiocy. 

He hunched over the controls, his fingers once again flying over the keys, bringing up more points that Thomas should be concerned about. “You don’t know the depth of the water! Nor how fast that current is rushing by. They don’t have any safety harnesses in case something goes wrong. ” He pressed the last button in the sequence. “Just consider the fact that you’re doing this in the dark without adequate lighting!”

Thomas shook his head almost as soon as the points appeared. Brushing aside Logan’s attempts to dissuade him as he picked up the pace to catch up to the others who had already made it to the river.

“NO!” Logan growled. “Stop dismissing me.” He pushed his glasses back up his nose before dropping his hand back to the dials. “Thomas.” He ground out, trying to keep himself calm. And failing. “No. This is a bad idea.” Again he tried another series of sequences to get Thomas to react, his fingers pressing the last of the buttons with a bit more force. 

This time though, nothing showed up on the screen. Logan tensed, cursing under his breath, glad that Patton wasn’t there to hear him. He bowed his head, gripping the console tight enough that his hands went white. 

No response. Thomas had effectively shut him down, the console’s colors going dim as Thomas pushed logic to the side in favor of peer pressure. 

He gritted his teeth, slamming his hand on the console. Where were these people’s Logical sides? On vacation? This was dangerous. A foolish stunt that had none of the safety protocols that would ensure that no one, especially Thomas, would get hurt, if not killed! But what could he do now? It wasn’t like Logan could just suddenly appear and startl---

He jerked his head up, eyes widening, his heart stuttering in his chest. Startle. “Anxiety.” He whirled from the console, syncing out of the control room in the process. 

“Virgil!” Logan yelled as he reappeared in the commons. Where was the Anxious Side? Please not locked up in his room. Please. Logan needed his help. Now. 

He broke into a run, darting up the stairs. “VIRGIL!!” If anyone could prevent Thomas from dying tonight it would be hi--

A curse sounded behind him just as he reached the top. Logan whirled, nearly falling back down the stairs as he saw Virgil standing in his usual spot, his hair mussed, jacket half off his shoulders, his head phones resting around his neck. 

“Lo?” he asked in a graveled, sleepy tone as he looked about the commons, not yet seeing Logan on the stairs above him. 

His tight chest relaxed a centimeter. “Virgil.” Logan breathed. There would be no need to waste time knocking on the Anxious Side’s door. He rushed down the steps three at a time reaching Virgil’s side in two blinks of an eye. He took his arm to prevent Virgil from stumbling backwards off the landing at his sudden proximity. “Help me.” He jerked them both out of the commons, reappearing in front of the console. 

Virgil pulled his arm from Logan’s grip, grimacing as he squinted in the sudden light change. “Geez, Lo, you can’t jus--”

Logan shook his head, gesturing to the screen in front of him where it showed Thomas looking down into the dark swirling waters, his hands gripping onto a rope that would probably snap in the next gust of wind. “Stop him. Stop Him. _please._ ” 

Virgil frowned, staring at Logan for a half second too long before his gaze shifted to the scene in front of him. The grey eyeshadow under his eyes changed to pitch black as Virgil went ramrod straight. “What in the blazes?!” He reached out grabbing Logan’s wrist, pulling him closer to the console. “How--”

“I _tried!_ ” Logan said, not liking how his voice cracked. His used his free hand to jab at the buttons once more. “ _He isn’t listening to me._ ” And Thomas was going to get hurt because of it. Thomas was going to die. All because He, Logic, couldn’t make Thomas see common sense! 

“Stop.” Virgil lightly shook Logan’s wrist, pulling him from his spiraling thoughts. “There’s still time.” 

Logan exhaled shakily. Was there? WAS THERE?

Virgil growled as Thomas lifted his foot to step onto the narrow rope hanging below the first. “If just barely.” He amended, reaching out, a deep purple key appearing between his fingers. He slid the key into a small lock on the far right side of the console and twisted it with a soft snick. 

The controls flashed to the deepest black and Logan couldn’t help but wince, his heart climbing into his throat. He’d never liked it when Virgil had taken over the console before...before they’d learned his name, before they’d grown to understand him and his role more. Only Virgil could use that key, and only he could choose when to unlock the console from the Flight or Fight reflex. 

Thomas’s reaction to Virgil’s key was immediate. He yelped as his foot slipped off the rope and he scrambled backwards, frantically searching for more solid ground. 

“Oh that was close.” Thomas whispered, pressing a hand to his heart once he regained his footing. “Umm...guys.” He called out tentatively, peering into the darkness on the other side trying to find the others who’d already crossed. 

Virgil let go of Logan’s wrist, his eyes intent on the screen as he reached out, twisting a medium sized wheel so that the rushing water took on a more menacing roar. The river appearing wider, deeper, more dangerous with the pounding of the current against the bank echoing in a hollow manner. The shape of the rocks in the water, just barely visible in the dark, seemed to sharpen to spikes that could easily skewer a person.

“Guys?” Thomas called a little louder, gulping. 

“Come on, Tommy.” 

“It’s not that far!”

“Hurry up you baby!” The ringleader yelled, the faint echo of the other’s laughter reaching Thomas’s ears a moment later.

Virgil growled. “Oh, I do not like them.” He muttered, flipping a few switches to make the creaking of the rope sound all the more ominous and look all the more frail.

“Agreed.” Logan murmured, narrowing his eyes, as he studied Virgil’s alterations. It was well done. Thomas’s pulse still pounded after the near slip, and he was eyeing the river with more concern than he had earlier when Logan had been talking to him. 

Logan clicked his tongue, reaching out and flipping another switch on the dark console, shivering at the cold his fingers encountered. The console hummed as the new alteration took effect. Though Logan barely noticed. His hand stayed frozen on the switch as he stared at it trying to comprehend. “It worked?” He mumbled in disbelief. 

That had never happened before when Virgil had taken charge. Trying to do anything when Virgil had the console in Fight or Flight was nearly impossible. Unsinking the Titanic would have been an easier endeavor, really.

“Got Control?” Virgil asked, not looking to Logan as he jumped, jarred from his musings. The anxious side stayed focused on the screen in front of him as he twirled another dial, recalling the points Logan had been trying to make earlier to convince Thomas to not attempt this stunt. 

Logan frowned down at the console. Why wasn’t Virgil surprised that Logan had access too? Was this something he’d always been able to do, but they hadn’t realized it because they’d never wanted to listen to him before? 

He cleared his throat, forcing his fingers to move to press some more keys. They reacted normally to his touch, responding better than they had before Virgil had shown up. He gave a short nod. “It appears so.” He said, selecting the first point on the list--that Thomas didn’t know the depth of the water- once more sending it to Thomas to reconsider. 

“Good.” Virgil let go of his key, his fingers flying over the keyboard, inputting his own points to strengthen Logan’s original concern. “You gonna stand there like a stick in the mud or help me?” 

Logan adjusted his glasses, squaring his shoulders, resting his hands more confidently on the console. He’d figure out how this was possible later. For now. They needed to save Thomas. 

“Tooommmmmyyyy we doooon’ttt have allll niiiiigggghhhtttt” The ringleader called out in a sing song voice. 

Thomas swallowed hard, taking a step forward to the narrow rope bridge, averting his eyes from the rocks that Virgil had been pointing out could shred him to pieces if he fell onto them. 

“It’s...it’s fine, the others did it.” Thomas whispered to himself, unconvincingly. “I’ll be fine. They know what they’re doing.”

Logan and Virgil both leaned over the controls, their lips drawn back in silent snarls. 

“Now is not the time to try and see the best in others, Thomas.” Virgil ground out, turning another dial.

“They had the experience.” Logan agreed, moving his hands to the keys to continue making points as Virgil automatically shifted his own hands to make room for him. “You have none, this is your first time and you want to try it in the DARK? When you can’t see? When you don’t know the terrain is? They’ve done this hundreds of times.” 

“You’ve never done this. Not once.” Virgil added, reaching back to his key and turning it another click. 

Logan inhaled sharply, flinching as the keys became colder to the touch, though they still responded flawlessly to him. 

“That rope may have held up the others, but this could be the moment it fails.” Virgil flicked a series of switches to give his words more weight. “The moment it snaps. Is this how you want to die?” 

“See how it’s worn? It should have been replaced long ago. It’s not safe.” Logan pointed out, reaching around Virgil as they both went for different areas of the console as they worked to convince Thomas to stay safe.

It took another three clicks of Virgil’s key, six more points on Logan’s list, and one heart stopping moment when Thomas nearly fell off the flimsy rope bridge, his shoes getting soaked in the water, the current pulling at his legs, before the two of them together convinced Thomas that despite what the others had been telling him, crossing the water was out of the question. 

“I….I think I’m good guys. I’ll try it in the morning.” Thomas called out, stepping back, flinching at the wave of name calling that reached his ears. 

“You don’t need to prove yourself.” Virgil muttered, wiping sweat from his brow as he slumped over the console, looking like he’d been through the wringer. “Especially to these losers.” 

“They’re not real friends if they’re not worried for your safety.” Logan agreed quietly, relief washing through him as Thomas finally turned away from the river and moved back up to the main party at Virgil’s prodding. Logan reached out, adjusting Thomas’s hearing so that the so-called ‘friend’s’ voices could no longer be heard.

Safe. 

Between one blink and the next, Logan found himself on the floor, trembling. “If he does still want to do this in the morning, it better be with a life jacket.” Logan mumbled, running a shaky hand through his hair before removing his glasses pinching the bridge of his nose. That was too close. Way too close.

Virgil snorted. “All that and you’re worried about a life jacket?” He retorted, pulling his key out of the console before sinking to the floor next to Logan, resting his head against the side of it as it returned to it’s normal multi-colored look. “What about those so-called friends?” 

“I...I don’t know…” Logan set his glasses on the floor drawing his knees up to his chest so he could rest his head on them, blocking out the light. “If I hadn’t….he wouldn’t have….” He swallowed hard. He’d been the one to push for Thomas to come out here in the first place. And look what had happened. He’d nearly…. “Good thing you were here to save the day.” He whispered. “I screwed it all up.” He should have foreseen this, but humans weren’t always easy to read at first impression and before he’d realized it, Thomas had agreed to the challenge and then--

“Hey.” 

Logan flinched as Virgil leaned against him, the heat radiating off his body a welcome surprise after dealing with the icy console. 

“Don’t try and make into a hero, Lo. It doesn’t suit me.” He yawned, drawing his hoodie over his eyes. 

“I think it suits you fine.” Logan disagreed, swallowing hard. “You’re the hero, Virgil. If you hadn’t come….” His vision blurred once more. “I cou-couldn’t do anything. Reas-reasonable logic wa-wasn’t working for him and--” 

And if they’d never learned Virgil’s name, never came to understand his role, then Logan would have never asked him for help and Thomas could very well have died tonight, and there would have been no way to stop it because he’d been powerless. Useless.

“Logan.” 

Logan jumped as Virgil’s hand once more encircled his wrist, holding it in a comforting grip. He swallowed hard,tilting his head to look at Virgil, unable to meet the Anxious side’s searching eyes for long. 

“You’re a hero too.” Virgil said quietly, no trace of sarcasm in his tone.

Logan shook his head. “ _I’m not._ ” he whispered. He couldn’t save Thomas by himself. If Virgil hadn’t come, if he hadn’t listened, hadn’t been able to see right away what the problem was…

Virgil shook his head. “If I have to accept you calling me a hero, then you have to accept me calling you one too, Lo. You did well.” He gave a tired smile, biting back another yawn, slumping a bit further against the console. “Woke me up, so I’m still miffed at you for that, but we rescued our boy together, alright? It’s not like I could have convinced him by myself either you know.” He gave a half-shrug. “We worked together to save him. I can only do so much with adrenaline.” 

Logan considered silently, slowly allowing a small smile to creep back onto his face. True, working together like that had been a first for them. And it...it had gone well. Surprisingly well. “And with cognitive distortions.” he added.

Virgil rolled his eyes, “You’re never gonna let that go are you?” 

Logan tilted his head as if considering before he chuckled. “No, no I’m not.” 

Virgil gave an exasperated sigh, though his smile turned more genuine. “Whatever, Specs. In any case. You owe me sleep.” 

Logan blinked, frowning at the illogically of that statement.“I can’t owe you some--”

“Shhhh” Virgil hushed him, lightly patting Logan’s arm as he leaned his head on Logan’s shoulder, his legs half curling up as he shifted into a more comfortable position. “Just don’t move for a bit and I’ll consider us even.” He mumbled, eyes closing. “Deal?” 

Logan bit his lip, cautiously lowering his legs so he too was in a more comfortable position, trying to not jostle the Anxious Side as he did so. “So long as Thomas doesn’t run into any more trouble and we have to--”

“Whatever. Wake me if I’m needed.” Virgil mumbled, his black eye shadow fading to a faint grey. 

“You can’t seriously expect to fall asleep in such a position.” Logan said, cautiously resting his head on Virgil’s. His own exhaustion coming to the forefront of his mind as the last of his tension faded. The hoodie was actually pretty soft, though it was no pillow.

Virgil huffed, but didn’t move. “Fallen asleep in worse, just say deal, Lo.” 

“Deal?” 

“Great. Goodnight.”

“Early morning is more accura--.” 

Virgil groaned. “Lo.” 

Logan smiled, exhaling. “Alright, Virge” he said softly. “Goodnight.”


End file.
